Can of Worms
by Angst Splatter
Summary: A collection of independent what-ifs. First up: what if Nathan had been more than just be knocked unconscious for a little while when he fell out of the tree trying to retrieve the coconuts for everyone? What if he had been actually injured?


I figure this will probably become a collection of oneshot 'what ifs' because I have quite a lot in mind (if I ever get around to writing them). Most will probably be focused on Nathan, as he's my favorite and the most relatable to me, but I can see some other character bunnies popping out of the rabbit hole at me. So. I hope you enjoy.

Summary of this one: what if Nathan had done more than be knocked unconscious for a while when he fell out of the tree trying to retrieve the coconuts for everyone?

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I'd be publishing this on fictionpress, or something similar. The quote at the end is John Oxenham's.

~F29D~F29D~F29D~

Nathan's gaze was focused upwards, looking determinedly at the bunch of coconuts gathered at the top of the tree. He wished it were as simple as just throwing a few rocks at them to knock them down, but the tree was far too tall for that.

Heart pounding in his chest, partly from fear, partly from adrenaline, Nathan undid his jacket and swung it around the tree. He took an experimental step, testing the strength of the tree and friction of his shoes. The tree didn't waiver. His foot stuck on its hold. Hopping a little, Nathan kicked his other foot up, quickly finding a notch for it, too. Smiling to himself, the former boy scout pushed up on his feet, releasing some of the tension off of his jacket, and quickly threw it further up the tree.

It was slow going, but Nathan stayed calm, focused only on finding the next foothold for each of his feet and inching his way up the tree. The task did take a bit of strength, but Nathan was not weak, especially not with the adrenaline still methodically pumping through his system.

Less than a quarter of the way from the top, Nathan took a chance. Wanting to see how impressive his progress was so far, the boy glanced down. Seeing the height he had climbed up broke Nathan's intense focus. Now starting to sweat, the boy quickly looked back up. Swallowing thickly, he peeked down, trying not to see the great distance again, thought he found a foothold, and placed his foot in it.

The hold felt solid, so, a bit more confident, now, Nathan looked back up at the prize, and hooked his sweater up a notch higher in the tree. Or, he thought he did. Not until too late did it register that his foot wasn't secure enough. The sweater caught briefly in the air before it landed back on the tree, but the damage was already done.

Suddenly less stable, leaning up, hopping his sweater up the tree, Nathan's foot slipped. The jacket caught on the tree again and Nathan jerked back. With one foot off the tree, Nathan didn't have enough stability of hold. Instead of holding onto the tree, Nathan kept falling backwards. The jacket ripped out of his hands and he fell, wide-eyed. He gave himself one, last, desperate chance. Not wanting to hit the tree the whole way down, Nathan kicked his leg out, successfully making contact with the trunk, pushing himself away from the tree.

With a crack, Nathan thumped to the ground, solidly knocking his head on a log conveniently lying in his way. Nathan's eyelashes fluttered twice, and then he was out, blissfully unaware of his pain for the time being.

~F29D~

"And it works?"

"Yep. It's powered by the sun, so as long as we have sunlight, we should be good."

"Wow. Have you told Daley?"

"No. She's… Well, she's busy with other things."

"Uh-huh," Jackson said, unconvinced.

"So, uh, do you know who you're voting for? Jackson?" Lex, receiving no answer, turned around to face the older boy. "Jackson?" he prodded again. "What is it?"

Jackson was staring off into the woods, a worried look on his face. Lex didn't know whether he should be worried or not, as Jackson was often brooding and his worried face was much the same as the one he always wore. "Melissa said Nathan went off to look for food. Alone."

Lex decided on being worried. They really shouldn't be wandering off alone. Not on this unknown island. "How long ago?"

Jackson's unsaid answer hung in the air. 'Long enough.' Giving an unreadable look to the younger boy, he dropped the firewood and started off in the direction that he had been staring in, the direction that he though Melissa had pointed to Nathan going off in, knowing that Lex would be smart enough to follow him.

~F29D~

Needing something to do, Melissa decided to go off in search of the camera. She just knew that Taylor would do something completely stupid and ruin it. It didn't matter how much she wished otherwise, Taylor just wasn't that responsible – or smart – of a girl. She knew it wasn't really important, but it wasn't often that Melissa had a story to tell. Or got to tell it.

Catching sight of the camera sitting by the plane, Melissa suddenly paled. She ran to the device and picked it up. Frantically pressing buttons, anger and frustration quickly welled up inside the girl. "Noooooo!" Melissa's cry rang out. The camera was dead.

Not really knowing how to deal with the situation, but knowing that she couldn't let this go – the only really good thing of her own that she had on the island – Melissa stormed off in search of the blonde in question.

"Taylor!" The Asian teen found the wannabe movie star further up the beach, doing something incredibly stupid – incredibly Taylor-ish – with a stick that was probably supposed to be a spear. Melissa paid no attention to Eric, who grimaced at the call and started to run off. But, not wanting to seem guilty or catch attention to himself, Eric quickly froze, letting the scene unfold before him.

"Taylor! I told you to be careful with the camera. And what do you do? You let it die!"

"It's dead!" Taylor gasped in shock. Melissa wasn't even sure if Taylor was faking it or not. She found it hard to believe that anyone could be that stupid. Melissa was too angry to really dwell on that, though, so she continued on yelling at the blonde. It was either yell or cry and Melissa thought that maybe, just maybe, she could get some actual results out of yelling.

"Yes, Taylor. It's dead! That was our only battery. Why would you do something like that?"

"I didn't!"

"What? Just, what?"

Melissa and Taylor continued yelling at each other, making their way up the beach and into the thin part of the forest. Eric decided to follow, curious as to what the outcome of this fight could possibly be. Catching sight of Daley both the angry teens stormed up to her.

"Daley! Taylor ran the battery out of the camera. It was the only one. Now me and Nathan can't make our video diaries any more and no one will ever know our story!" Melissa shrieked out, at the same time Taylor exclaimed, "Daley! Melissa's blaming me for the camera battery dying, but I didn't do it! I was just making a diary the same as her. I didn't do anything wrong."

The redhead, caught off guard by a sudden flurry of two angry teenage girls, gaped for a minute before recovering her composure. "So? What do you want me to do about it?" None of the girls seemed to notice the nervous teenage boy in the background, silently wringing his hat in his hands.

"You want to be leader?" Daley nodded in confirmation. "Then lead," Melissa demanded, feeling more confident now than she ever had before.

"Yeah, Daley. Lead!" Taylor also demanded, not to be outdone.

"Uhh…" Daley wracked her brain. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Drawing a blank and thinking that there were more important things to be doing, anyway, Daley did the only reasonable thing she could think of. "I have to go to the bathroom." She made her way to the quickest exit, leaving behind the drama, hoping the other two could just work it out on their, own.

Eric stood, still frozen, eyes wide. Melissa and Taylor stepped up closer, glared at each other, then growled and stormed off in the opposite direction, leaving behind one very confused and slightly relieved boy.

~F29D~

"There he is!" Lex's shout rang out, clear and relieved. Both he and Jackson jumped through the remaining plant life and to the side of the dark-skinned boy. "Don't touch him. He might be hurt." Jackson and Lex leaned over Nathan. "Nathan, Nathan. Come on. You need to wake up, Nathan."

While Lex tried to prod Nathan into the land of the conscious, Jackson took stock of the injured boy's condition. The most immediate injury was on his head. Nathan was on his side, head lolling near a log, blood still slowly and steadily pulsing out of a nice gash on his forehead. Jackson didn't think it looked good. He had no idea what first aid supplies they had on this island.

Eyes quickly glancing down Nathan's body, the next most obvious injury was the boy's ankle. Nathan's left foot was pointing in an odd direction and his ankle was clearly swollen, visible even covered up by his sock.

"Nathan! C'mon, buddy. You can do it. Just… Just follow the sound of my voice." Lex sounded scared, but kept his composure, focusing on just making sure Nathan was okay.

"He's alive," Jackson reassured Lex, his fingers pressed gently to Nathan's neck. Taking a chance, he pushed Nathan's head in the other direction, giving it a light slap.

"Ugh," Nathan mumbled, some more unintelligible words falling out of his mouth.

Jackson took it as a good sign, and Lex seemed to do the same. "Nathan. Are you alright?"

Nathan blinked blurrily, his gaze unfocused and eyes squinting in the light. "Lex? That you?"

"Yes. It's Lex. Listen, Nathan. I need you to tell me if you're alright. Can you do that?"

"M'fine," Nathan said, clearer than the first time he spoke, but still sounding confused and groggy.

Lex and Jackson shared a look, not believing Nathan's words in the slightest. "Okay. Does anything hurt?"

"Mmm. My head. And my ankle. And my back."

Lex bit his lip. Jackson wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. He peered close into Nathan's face, trying to read his expression better. "But you can feel all that?"

"Yeah. Hurts. Can feel that."

"Okay. Just to make sure, can you wiggle your fingers and toes for me?"

Nathan complied, groaning as he did so. "Aah. Hurts too much to move my left foot."

Lex glanced down, noticing the state of Nathan's ankle for the first time. "But you're not paralyzed. That's a good sign." Quieter, he added, "I think."

"Okay. What's the best thing to do now, Lex?" Jackson asked. He didn't want either of them to make their way back alone, but even more so, he didn't want to leave Nathan alone.

"Well. By moving him, we could risk more injury, but he needs to be brought back to camp. We need to see to his ankle as soon as we can. Umm… I guess. I guess, we should bring him back to camp."

If the situation hadn't been so dire, Jackson would have smiled. That's what he wanted to hear. All of them going back at the same time.

"I'd like to stabilize his ankle as much as possible, but he shouldn't be walking anyway, and we didn't bring any first aid supplies with us," Lex said, mostly thinking aloud to himself. "I won't be much help in helping to carry him. Do you think you could make it the whole way back with him on your back?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess," Jackson said, trying to determine how much Nathan might weigh.

"Okay. Nathan! Stay awake."

"I am awake," Nathan groaned, looking up at the two, eyes, thankfully, wider than before.

"Okay. Than let's get you up on Jackson's back. You move as little as you can, okay, Nathan?"

For a moment, Jackson was sure that Nathan was going to put up a fight and demand that he at least be allowed to try and work back, but then pain invaded his senses and he let his common sense answer for him. "Yeah. That sounds good. I can do that."

"Good," Lex nodded, and gently grabbed the boy's arm. Jackson squatted and turned his back to Nathan. He put his hands over his shoulders, awaiting Nathan's hands. Nathan winced, but helped push himself up to more of a sitting position. Lex supported Nathan's back, trying to hold it straight and still, as Nathan offered his arms to Jackson's waiting hands.

With a little more re-maneuvering, Nathan braced himself. Lex squatted behind him, hands ready to try and make the big shift onto Jackson's back as painless as possible. Jackson squared his shoulders, feeling odd with Nathan's arms looped around his neck. "Ready?" Jackson quietly asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Nathan answered. And suddenly, Jackson had stood up, Lex along with him, as Nathan let out a dry sob that Jackson suspected was supposed to be a scream. Lex's nervous gulp was audible to all of them, but was left ignored. Jackson hefted Nathan up further, eliciting a choked hiss from the injured boy, as Nathan did his best to bring his legs up around Jackson's stomach.

Lex frowned at Nathan's scrunched up and closed eyes and ragged breathing, but took off for camp without another word.

~F29D~

The atmosphere around camp was tense, to say the least. Eric was doing his best to keep quiet and stay unnoticed. Melissa and Taylor went between ignoring each other by huffing and puffing around or glaring at each other in stony silence. Daley went over some last minute counting and figuring, oblivious to the tension and focused on the upcoming vote. Eric was the only one who noticed the lack of people around the camp, wondering where his fellow males could possibly be, deserting him so, to be alone with the crazy females.

Just as Melissa and Taylor switched from glaring at each other to ignoring each other, the tense in camp changed considerably.

"Daley! Where's the first aid stuff been moved to?" Lex burst into the camp, breaking up the teenage angst fest, as they all stopped to stare at him in worry.

"First aid kit? What happened?"

"No time! Where is it?"

"Um, just right… Over here," Daley spotted their little first aid kit. She grabbed it and offered it to her brother.

"Great. Guys, bring some sleeping bags and pillows out here. We need to set them down for Nathan to lay on."

"What happened to Nathan?" Melissa worriedly asked.

Sensing that he wouldn't get action until his fellow crash survivors got an explanation, Lex threw up his hands in exasperation. He didn't have time for this and neither did Nathan, only moments away. "He fell out of a tree trying to gather some coconuts for us. Sleeping bags! Now!"

Oddly enough, it was Eric who sprung into action. Melissa and Daley followed quickly after, pulling out their sleeping bags and pillows and setting them up under Lex's keen eye, his other keen eye picking through first aid supplies. It wasn't what he was hoping for, but it would have to do.

The sound of Nathan's pained breathing reaching them all before the sight of Jackson carrying Nathan did. Wanting to help, but not knowing how to best do so, everyone gathered around the sleeping bag. Jackson crouched down near the end as Lex got behind him, ready to help lower Nathan down. Getting the idea, everyone else also reached around, as Nathan let his grip go slack and many guiding hands set him down on the makeshift bed as gently as they could.

When they pulled away, Nathan coughed weakly. Jackson suspected it was, once again, a strained scream he was trying to hide.

"Ouch," Daley murmured, catching glance of Nathan's ankle.

"Oh Nathan," Melissa sighed, stroking his forehead.

"Water," Lex demanded. Daley knew they couldn't really spare any at the moment, but if Lex needed it to help Nathan, he was going to get it. As much of a stubborn, egotistical jerk Daley thought Nathan was, she didn't want him to die. She sprung forward and deposited a bottle into Lex's hand. He grabbed a piece of cloth Daley didn't know where he got from, we it down, and handed it to Melissa. "Clean the gash as best as you can.

Melissa nodded grimly and set to work. "Ew!" Taylor squealed and jumped away. Shuddering at the grossness of the blood, Taylor set off towards the beach. Eric, not knowing what else to do, set off after her. Whether to comfort her or to comfort himself, he wasn't sure of, either. No one so much as batted an eyelash at their departure. Wasn't many places they could really go to.

"Can I do anything, Lex?" Daley worriedly asked.

"Just don't get in the way," Lex said brusquely. Daley bit her lip, sat down, and grabbed Nathan's hand. He immediately squeezed it and let out a little groan. Daley let him.

Lex set to work on Nathan's ankle as Jackson stood back and watched, knowing that he couldn't help either. "This is going to hurt," Lex warned Nathan, though he wasn't even sure if the older boy could hear him or was paying any attention to him. Bracing himself, Lex deftly grabbed onto Nathan's ankle, wishing he had more experience in these types of things.

Lex prodded into the swollen flesh. Not being able to feel well enough, he practically ripped Nathan's shoe and sock off. The injury looked even worse when bare to the young boys eyes. He dug back in and felt where the bone went wrong. Nathan's grip on Daley tightened even more. Melissa paused in her cleaning for a moment, placing her hand calmly on Nathan's chest. They all knew what was coming next.

With a grimace, Lex jerked Nathan's ankle around, straightening it as best as he could. Nathan, finally, let out a strangled cry, jerking up on instinct. Jackson jumped in, quickly pushing Nathan down and holding him still, as Lex did his best to ignore everything but Nathan's ankle.

Nathan's breath came out louder and more ragged than before. He grunted every few breaths, as if trying to regain a pretense of control. Daley stroked his hand and Melissa whispered reassurances into his ear, returning to cleaning out the gash. No one said anything about the tears that silently ran down Nathan's face, the quietest thing about him at the moment.

Quickly glancing around, Lex picked up two sticks and went to work trying to set some sort of splint up. Jackson continued to apply a steady pressure to Nathan's chest and legs, afraid that he would jerk up and mess up the work Lex was doing. Nathan could only choke back his sobs as Melissa tried to calm him down and distract him. He hardly even noticed Daley's presence, as her thumb rubbed a calming circle into his hand.

~F29D~

"Taylor! Come back. Come on. You saw how Nathan is. We can't go wandering off like this," Eric pleaded at Taylor. He sounded as shaken up as Taylor looked.

Taylor turned back towards the boy, eyes wide and hair wild and crazy. There were tear streaks creating clean tracks down Taylor's face. She opened her mouth, probably to yell at Eric, but changed her mind. She let him come closer.

"Taylor-" he began, hoping more reasonable words would come out this time, but never made it further than her name before a resounding crack sounded out. Eric's face whipped around and a sharp pain sprung up in his cheek. He looked back at the blond, shock easily written out on his face. Now he gaped, wanting to ask what had just happened, but unable to force words out of his constricted throat. So, instead, he brought his hand up to his aching cheek and stared at Taylor.

She immediately brought her hands up to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, Eric. I'm so sorry." More tears sprang up and ran down her face.

"You… You…" Eric stammered.

"I didn't mean to," Taylor cried. Reaching up and ignoring Eric's slight flinch, Taylor drew Eric's hands away from his face and inspected the mark. "Oh, Eric. I'm so sorry," Taylor said, tearfully and quietly.

Eric's cheek and jaw was a bright red, a slightly distorted handprint shape visible. It would, no doubt, turn into a nice bruise.

"You slapped me," Eric finally managed to say.

"I'm sorry!"

Eric fully planned on milking what had just happened when Taylor burst into sobs and collapsed to the ground. Eric stared down at the girl, who had her knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them, and eyes pressed into her knees. His heart going out to the girl who he still held a crush for, Eric knelt in the sand and engulfed Taylor into a hug.

They sat that way until Eric's voice was hoarse from reassurances and Taylor's tears were dried up. By then, Daley had come to find them. "You guys should come hear this," was all she said and they silently stood up to follow her back to camp, pretending that they weren't holding hands. Not that anybody really cared about that; not with Nathan's condition.

~F29D~

Nathan was pale and unmoving as the rest of the survivors gathered around to hear what Lex had to say. The young boy still had blood on his hands. More of it was on him than was on Melissa, who also hadn't bothered to wash her hands, yet. "It's bad," stated Lex, looking at the ground.

"What… What happened to him?" Taylor asked, voice breaking in the middle of her question. Eric sat close to her, hand rubbing her back, doing his best to soothe her.

"He tried to climb a tree and get coconuts. I think he was pretty far up when he fell. Hit his head on a log. From what I can gather, he broke his ankle kicking the tree to make sure he didn't hit it on the way down. Probably also with the fall."

"How bad are his injuries?" Melissa asked, eyes never leaving the still form of her best friend.

"Pretty bad. As I said, his ankle's broken. I set it as best he could, but without proper treatment, I don't know how much good that will do. I'm pretty sure he has a concussion. He really shouldn't be sleeping now. We'll should wake him in a few minutes and keep him up for twenty-four hours to avoid brain damage and watch for more injuries. His back was also jolted in the fall. Though, as I believe it was only jolted, that's probably the least of his worries, even if it's still painful for him."

"Is he gonna make it?" Eric asked the question that was on all of their minds.

"I don't know," Lex whispered, giving an answer that nobody his age should have to give on such an urgent matter. Daley was by his side in an instant, holding him close and wishing she could do more.

"I'll wake him," Jackson offered, and moved towards the still boy.

"I'll help keep him awake if everyone wants to get some sleep or something," Melissa said, needing to be near Nathan.

Lex nodded his agreements, shook Daley off, and slipped into his tent, flopping down onto the one remaining sleeping bag, and quickly falling into an exhausted sleep. Eric and Taylor nodded mutely and wandered over to the plane, silently curling up into their own seats and pretending to sleep, wishing they actually could. Daley gave the whole camp an odd look and then wandered off. Hoping she was smart enough to not go to far, Jackson and Melissa let her go, as they set about waking a very resistant Nathan up.

~F29D~

"Twenty-four hours is up. I guess we should let him get some rest now," Lex said. His voice was unnaturally quiet and detached from the situation. Nathan hadn't wanted to be up and had to be poked and prodded the whole time to be kept away and to be woken up the times when it didn't work.

Half the time when he was up he had been delusional, muttering about this and that, half of it gibberish and the rest bits and fragments of sentences, making it all confusing and worrying. The other half of the time Nathan groaned and cried and tried to flail about, finding no relief from his pain and only wanting to pass out to escape it.

Daley nodded, and brushed a hand over Nathan's forehead. He was burning up. His eyes closed peacefully, but stayed scrunched in pain. Lex had explained that a fever was the body's way of fighting off bad things and a fever, as long as it wasn't too high, was a good sign. If it got too high, Nathan risked getting brain damage. Lex couldn't wait until the fever broke. He was pretty sure that's when he would be able to determine something more solid about Nathan's status and maybe be able to tell the others with certainty that there was a good chance Nathan would make it. But for now, he just didn't know.

~F29D~

**Melissa's video diary**

"It's weird. It's been a week since Nathan got hurt. If we were back home and in school, we'd all – or I would be, at least – visiting him in the hospital every day, until he was out. He'd be walking around school in crutches. People would be asking him what happened.

"But here, it's different. We've gotten into a new flow of things. Checking up on him is just a part of our routine. Get water, check on Nathan. Boil the water, check on Nathan. Gather fruit, check on Nathan. It's not as shocking a sight, anymore. His delusions are just something we deal with now. What else can we do?

"We've also matured. A lot. Especially Lex. I can't imagine what it was like for him to have to set Nathan's ankle. It was bad enough to hear it. He's very quiet now. Daley's always fluttering over him, acting the mother hen. Eric and Taylor are very close and also quieter. They spend a lot of time together.

"That just leaves me and Jackson. But I seem to have made backwards progress ever since he carried Nathan back. I feel so alone. I need someone to talk things out with. I miss Nathan."

**End Melissa's video diary**

**Daley's video diary**

"Lex is so quiet, now. I can't get him to talk to me about anything. He's come up with some brilliant things – a music player, for one – but he's… Gosh, I don't know. Nathan's injury changed him. He's not the same little brother, anymore, and nothing I'm doing seems to be helping him. I just… I just want to see him smile again."

**End Daley's video diary**

~F29D~

**Jackson's video diary**

"The camp is in chaos. Nathan's in bad shape. Daley won't leave Lex alone. Lex barely talks. Taylor and Eric are spending almost all their time together. Melissa won't leave me alone. And me? I just want to get away."

**End Jackson's video diary**

"Jackson! Jackson! Oh, there you are. So. What's up?" Melissa asked, plopping into the sand next to Jackson. Jackson was sitting on the beach, a ways away from the survivor's small camp. It's where he was most of the time, now, when he didn't need to be around to be the leader.

"Nothing," the boy murmured. "You out of things to do?"

Melissa ignored the jibe, almost oblivious of the fact that Jackson only wanted to be left alone. "No. And I'm doing my job right now. Somebody needs to look after you."

"Yeah. Sure."

The two teens sat in a familiar silence for a few minutes, before Melissa felt it was okay to speak up again. "What's on your mind?"

"Nathan," the leader said, for once being blunt with Melissa.

"Oh. I've been thinking about him, too. You think he's going to make it?"

"No." Once again, the boy was unusually blunt, this time shocking Melissa a little.

"…No?"

"Yeah. He's stuck in his mind. He hasn't really woken up once. He still speaks in gibberish half the time, and the other half the time it just doesn't make sense. We're… We're just wasting food and water and time and resources on him, now. And sure, we can afford that, now, but…" Jackson trailed off, leaving Melissa staring and gaping at him.

"Um, yeah. Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Maybe. If rescue doesn't come, we can't take care of him for the rest of our life. Sometime – I'm not saying now – we're going to have to decide whether we should keep taking care of him. That is, if he makes it."

~F29D~

Lex poked himself into the tent that housed Nathan, gaining himself a few precious moments of freedom from Daley. There wasn't really anything more he could do for the boy, except feed him more crushed up aspirin and wipe his forehead down, but the tent had quickly become a sort of sanctuary for the young boy.

Daley was constantly hovering over him, saying whatever popped into her head, and, generally, driving him crazy. He loved her and she was still his sister, but he needed some time to work out things in his head. It was a very hard task when he could barely get two seconds to himself.

Nathan's pallor wasn't a good sign, but he hadn't gotten any more pale for a while now. Lex supposed that wasn't a bad sign, at least. The young boy dipped the washcloth into water and dragged it across Nathan's forehead, letting the water freely drip down the boy's face and into his bushy hair.

"No, dun let the duck go there. Might 'splode," Nathan said, looking around a scene that was only visible to his fevered eyes.

"Don't worry, Nathan. I've got the duck," Lex whispered reassuringly to the older boy.

Footsteps sounded loudly outside the tent and a form hurried by. Lex sighed in annoyance.

"But wha'bout its bath? It needs a bath."

Lex smiled sadly. "Daley's giving it a bath, now. Don't fret, Nathan. It'll be okay." With one last check over, Lex patted Nathan's arm, and then left the tent, leaving it unzipped so that Nathan wouldn't bake.

"Oh, there you are, Lex. Need any water? I brought some for you." Daley smiled brightly, but it was clear that her smile was fake and forced for her brother's sake.

"No. I'm fine," Lex said stiffly. "Going to do a diary." Lex didn't really have much to say, but taking care of Nathan, doing his video diary, and when Daley did her diary were the only times that he could be by himself.

**Lex's video diary**

"I know it's a terrible thing to say, but Nathan's my favorite person on the island right now. Daley just doesn't seem to get that I need some time to myself. I'm still trying to process what's happened. We just don't have the medical supplies and education that Nathan really needs. Something more has got to be wrong with him, but I'm out of ideas, and he's in no shape to tell us, anymore.

"He hasn't been coherent since Jackson and I brought him back. Well, there was the one time when I was alone with him in the tent, but that wasn't much help. He can't really tell me if he has some internal damage. Not that it matters. We couldn't treat it, anyway.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good. A week and a half and he still has a fever. Aspirin brings it down, but I'm not so sure even that's a good thing to do, either. Then again, I just don't know what to do any more. Not with Nathan, anyway."

**End Lex's video diary**

~F29D~

Taylor and Eric sat side by side near the campfire. Melissa was off trying to talk to Jackson and Daley was busy hovering over Lex. Nathan, of course, was lying in the tent. Eric's hand rested lightly on Taylor's knee. Hearing Nathan shift in the tent, Eric gave a gentle squeeze to her knee, then got up to make sure Nathan was okay.

Taylor stared solemnly into the crackling fire, ignoring the sounds of Eric and Nathan. Inside the tent, Eric was brushing the wet rag against Nathan's forehead, telling him not to worry, that there was not a black hole outside their shelter.

"He's fine. Just thirsty."

"You gave him water?"

"Yeah."

"Aspirin?"

"No. Lex said we should stop giving it all to him, or we'll have no more left if we need it for someone else. That, and he's not sure it's doing any good. Might be doing more harm."

"Oh. Okay."

Eric bit his lip, wondering if he should have told Taylor all that, but also knowing she could handle it. Instead of saying more, he settled on placing his hand back on Taylor's knee. Without looking at him, Taylor put her hand on top of Eric's, squeezing it affectionately.

**Eric's video diary**

"Taylor seems resigned. Funny. She was the one most in denial, and now she seems the most accepting. The most adjusted. More so than me. I think I'm still shaking from everything. Weird. I'm usually the first to shake these types of things off. Always been a part of my natural charm. But we've all changed since Nathan's accident. All of us."

**End Eric's video diary**

~F29D~

Now a habit, Lex stepped into the tent. Around three weeks since he had fallen, and he still wasn't doing any better. Daley was still hovering and the tent was still a sort of save haven for Lex.

"Alright. Let's get some more food into your system, Nathan. I brought some nice squished banana, this time. I'm still trying to figure out how to get some fish into your system. I think it would do you a lot of good. If only you were less delusional," Lex said, making small talk. It helped him to be able to talk to someone, a person instead of a camera, that wasn't going to judge him, even if he didn't really talk about what he wanted too. "Nathan?"

The boy was unusually silent. Lex had the odd niggling feeling that Nathan wasn't just finally getting some real rest. Shaky hands reached out as dread filled the tent. Lex gently put two fingers against Nathan's neck. Then pressed harder. Then grabbed his wrist.

**Lex's video diary**

"Dead. Three weeks. And suddenly – dead. It just… It doesn't make any sense. I know he wasn't doing good, but there was no reason for him to die. He could have made it. Rescue would have come. Eventually. Something seems off about this to me, but I just don't know what. Maybe it's just that there is suddenly one less survivor and life seems so much harder now. Not as worth it."

**End Lex's video diary**

~F29D~

Six solemn faces gathered in a half circle around the fresh grave. They all took turns digging it in the grove where they had, mostly through sheer willpower and grief, managed to cut down the tree that had caused Nathan's death. They felt that if Nathan didn't get to live, neither should the tree that killed him.

The grave itself was a simple one. The earth had obviously been recently overturned, as it was much softer and darker than the surrounding soil. Two coconuts signaled the head of the grave and two more signaled the foot. A small, plain, wooden headstone adorned the top of the grave, marking the body underneath.

A slow, steady wind pulsated about, making hair and clothes do an almost unnoticeable dance. Everyone felt the need to say something but no one stepped forward to do so, unsure of what to say. Nothing seemed fitting.

Jackson walked away first. He knelt down on the grave, placed a single flower on it, then walked away. Melissa's eyes followed him uneasily. Shortly after, she went through the same ritual before also leaving. Taylor went next, taking a bit longer to kneel down, eyes closed, on the grave, before placing her flowers. Eric went almost immediately after. Just when the others thought that Daley and Lex might stay there forever, Daley joined them in their silent camp. As silent as they were at the grave, the older survivors all sat still, staring into the fire, waiting to break their silence.

When Daley was thinking about going to go check on Lex, at least another hour later, Lex finally made his move. Falling to his knees on the grave, Lex bent his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered, letting his words be carried away by the teasing wind, to be heard by nobody but himself. He gently and deliberately set his flower in the dirt, making sure it stood up, standing out against the others flowers, which were all set flat down in the dirt. Then, without another look back, he too, strode into camp. Somehow, with him around, the silence was even harder to break.

~F29D~

**Taylor's video diary**

"Five and a half weeks. It took them a little over a month to find us. And they only found us because of a fluke. A mistake in signal Lex created. It got bumped by the wind and that's what saved our lives.

"It's hard for us to celebrate, though. Of course, smiles and laughter were quick to come when the boat first started towards us and our rescuers stepped off to greet us. But soon after, we remembered Nathan's death. Abby, Jory, Ian, and Captain Russell recovered pretty quickly. They're off celebrating and smiling, now.

"But not the rest of us. Rescue was so close. If Nathan could have held on just a little longer… I can't imagine what his parents will feel like when all of us step off the boat or plane or whatever they take us back in. All the rest of our parents will get to hug their child again. Not them. We're not even sure if the rescuers are going to bring back his body.

"I'm pushing for it. He deserves to get off this island just as much as the rest of us do. Maybe even more."

**End Taylor's video diary**

In the end, the survivors of Flight 29 Down broke the rescuers down, using guilt by asking what they would want if it was their child. They didn't have the proper supplies to really bring Nathan back, but really, no one was ever going to leave him on the island. The rescuers had planned on coming back for him, but the crash survivors agreed that he deserved to be rescued at the same time as them.

The grave stayed up. The castaways replaced Nathan's decaying body with their video diary's and some other Hotel Tango island odds and ends. With the rescuers doing their best to hurry the survivors up, the survivors slowly lowered the evidence of their stay into the ground, pushing the dirt atop it, once again.

"We made it, Flight 29 Down survivors. The journey wasn't easy and it's a shame that not all of us are here to do this, but we made it. We leave here proof of our stay for anyone who might stumble upon it to find. Like Abby said, none of us are the same people who crashed here. And none of us will be the same people who left here. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to start this next adventure of our lives. I'm ready for a fresh start. But this time, in civilization," Jackson memorialized.

The rest of the survivors nodded their agreement and slowly walked away, all together this time, to board the boat that would help bring them back to their homes and parents and lives.

The headstone, left up in respect and memory, stood strong in the grove. Upon it, the survivors had carved: "Nathan. For death begins with life's first breath and life beings at touch of death."

~F29D~F29D~F29D~

Well. That was much longer than I expected it to be and also very different. But I kind of like the direction the story took me in. I hope that it's not too full of mistakes because, like a bad author, I didn't go back and edit it. Please, let me know how I did. Concrit always welcome.


End file.
